THE UK'S LEADING NATIONAL SECURITY EVENT

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WHITE PAPER: Managing the security of crowded places

14 Sep 2017
by:
Counter Terror Business

The November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, which for many is seen as the starting point of Islamic State terrorist threat, shook the whole of Europe and raised the importance of event security to British and European security leaders. With coordinated attacks taking place across the French capital - starting at the Stade de France and ending at the Bataclan theatre - 130 people lost their lives, with over 400 seriously injured. For many, this was, and is likely to remain, the biggest loss of life due to an extremist attack in memory.

Whilst the tragedy was an act of terrorism that should not be given a disservice in discussion, there is no denying that the outcome had the potential to be much worse. The Bataclan massacre, whereby Islamic State terrorists were able to carry out mass shootings into a large crowd who had little time or space to disperse, initiated maximum casualty possibilities, while the terrorist attacks at the Stade de France are better known as the attacks that started the succession of planned assaults. For the sake of this discussion, they should also be remembered as the attacks that security propelled.